New to Princess - not to cruising. Drink Package??

[jaxflygirl88]

Hi everyone!  I've been on this site for over 15 years now and love it.  I am Diamond on R/C, have been on Celebrity 1x, Disney 2x, Norwegian 1x.  This will be our first cruise on Princess coming up.  Regal Princess.  Excited to try something new!  I didn't care for Celebrity  or NCL at all.  I've done OASIS over 6x and have memorized the shows and don't want to be around 3,000 kids on Spring Break (DH is high school teacher).  I'm hoping for good mix on this ship.  We usually get the drink package for my hubby, he drinks 4 or 5 beers a day, a few speciality coffees, OJ and bottled water.  I'm diabetic , rarely drink alcohol but I get the soda pkg. for my diet coke addiction!  R/C used to allow us to purchase pkg accordingly until last year, they required both to purchase same pkg.  I was able to get around that w/ my doctors note and they accommodated. us.  Can you purchase 1 alcohol pkg and 1 soda pkg on Princess?  Does anyone know how much beers are on Princess (Bud Light)?  Trying to find out if it's worth the price.  Oh and any other newbie Princess cruisers advice for us.  Thank you!!

[tonit964]

Yes you can. Princess does not require everyone over 21 in the cabin to purchase the beverage package.......yet.

[kb4683]

Last Princess cruise (April, 2018), 16 oz aluminum Bud Light was $6.25 + 15% tip = $7.19.  They have buckets of beer which are 5 for the price of 4 ($6.25 x 4 + 15% = $27.60).  The buckets do not have to all be opened when served, so he can drink at his leisure or take them back to the cabin.  We always bring a small collapsible cooler and have our buckets served in them with lots of ice -- much easier to carry around than those plastic buckets.  🍻

[voljeep]

5 minutes ago, kb4683 said:

Last Princess cruise (April, 2018), 16 oz aluminum Bud Light was $6.25 + 15% tip = $7.19.  They have buckets of beer which are 5 for the price of 4 ($6.25 x 4 + 15% = $27.60).  The buckets do not have to all be opened when served, so he can drink at his leisure or take them back to the cabin.  We always bring a small collapsible cooler and have our buckets served in them with lots of ice -- much easier to carry around than those plastic buckets.  🍻

same with us when we purchased the buckets - kept the ice much longer

 

note to OP - the buckets are NOT included in the PBP

 

it sounds like your husband is right at the 'break-even' for purchasing the PBP if that is his consumption ever day including port days ...

[skynight]

1 hour ago, jaxflygirl88 said:

Hi everyone!  I've been on this site for over 15 years now and love it.  I am Diamond on R/C, have been on Celebrity 1x, Disney 2x, Norwegian 1x.  This will be our first cruise on Princess coming up.  Regal Princess.  Excited to try something new!  I didn't care for Celebrity  or NCL at all.  I've done OASIS over 6x and have memorized the shows and don't want to be around 3,000 kids on Spring Break (DH is high school teacher).  I'm hoping for good mix on this ship.  We usually get the drink package for my hubby, he drinks 4 or 5 beers a day, a few speciality coffees, OJ and bottled water.  I'm diabetic , rarely drink alcohol but I get the soda pkg. for my diet coke addiction!  R/C used to allow us to purchase pkg accordingly until last year, they required both to purchase same pkg.  I was able to get around that w/ my doctors note and they accommodated. us.  Can you purchase 1 alcohol pkg and 1 soda pkg on Princess?  Does anyone know how much beers are on Princess (Bud Light)?  Trying to find out if it's worth the price.  Oh and any other newbie Princess cruisers advice for us.  Thank you!!

The Premium Beverage Package is per person. It does not have to be purchased by everyone in the cabin. Cost is $68.99/day and must be purchased for the entire cruise, ie 7 night voyage = $482.93. Price includes gratuity. No extra per drink gratuity added on the ship. The package is limited to 15 alcoholic drinks per day and has unlimited non-alcoholic drinks. It can not be shared

The soda and more package is $8.05/per day or $56.35 for a 7 night cruise. It is for fountain sodas, mocktails, hot chocolate (the Regal has free hot chocolate in the buffet) & juices. Note Juice is free in the dining areas during the morning breakfast hours.

Bud light in the 5 for 4 bucket is $26.35 or $5.27/bottle. Single bottle is $6.59. Cocktails are around $11.50 including gratuity. Espresso drinks range in price, but the most expensive infusion will be around $4.30, a large latte would be around $4. You would have to drink a lot of beer and coffee to reach the beverage package price.

Soda is $2.30/can. 

You can bring on as much non-alcoholic beverage as you like. If you don't drink lots and lots of soda this may be the way to go. We like to bring on the 7 oz cans. The size works well for us.

 

Tips

Try Alfredo's, no charge, waiter served individual pizzas and other menu items. Open 11am to late evening every day. Alfredo's is a nice lunch choice on boarding day.

The International Cafe is open 24/7 serving cont. breakfast items and then paninis, salads, quiche, some hot pies, desserts. There is no charge for food.

The buffet area is huge. Go through the entire place before you decide. Opens 5am and closes 11pm or midnight. One section or another is always open, never closes during that time. Made to order omelettes are prepared in the last serving line aft.

You will have to arrive 30 to 45 minutes for theater shows as well as Vista Lounge shows.

You can review the fine print of the beverage packages at this site

https://www.princess.com/learn/cruise-gifts-celebrations/gifts-and-services/culinary-delights-wine/

 

Edited January 26, 2019 by skynight

[Colo Cruiser]

1 hour ago, jaxflygirl88 said:

 Can you purchase 1 alcohol pkg and 1 soda pkg on Princess?   Thank you!!

Yes you can purchase both.

[paul929207]

You can carry on as much soda as you want.

[gma rae]

Skynight gave a great explanation! I will add that we buy the package and break even or better with several specialty coffees/tea, 4-5 bottled waters, soda, trying a new drink or 2 and wine by the glass with dinner each day for each of us. There is a beverage calculator on 1 of the threads here that lets you plug in what you think you will drink on a daily basis then calculates the total so you can determine if it is worth it to you.

Enjoy the cruise!

[jaxflygirl88]

Thank you!  Great advice!  Can't wait! 

 

[jimlouisesophie]

Here is a Beverage Package Calculator but is only a guideline, and not necessarily related to Princess:

https://www.cruzely.com/cruise-line-drink-package-calculator/

[GUT2407]

Princess might not be a good choice for you if you didn’t like Celebrity, in my opinion they are more alike than different.

[RMMariner]

5 minutes ago, GUT2407 said:

Princess might not be a good choice for you if you didn’t like Celebrity, in my opinion they are more alike than different.

 

I agree. Very similar lines. Celebrity seems to have a little more going on at night, but the food, entertainment and atmosphere are almost identical. 

 

We have enjoyed both lines, but cruise with Princess more because the itineraries out of Vancouver work for us best.

[GUT2407]

10 minutes ago, RMMariner said:

 

I agree. Very similar lines. Celebrity seems to have a little more going on at night, but the food, entertainment and atmosphere are almost identical. 

 

We have enjoyed both lines, but cruise with Princess more because the itineraries out of Vancouver work for us best.

Replace Vancouver with Sydney and we are the same.

[Sportsrus5]

Can you buy alcohol package for certain days?

[skynight]

1 hour ago, Sportsrus5 said:

Can you buy alcohol package for certain days?

No. The package must be purchased for the entire cruise, ie. 7 day cruise the price is $68.99 x 7 = $482.93. You can either pre-purchase in the cruise personlizer, or you can purchase it on board on boarding day only. The price is the same.

https://www.princess.com/learn/cruise-gifts-celebrations/gifts-and-services/culinary-delights-wine/

[Colo Cruiser]

1 hour ago, Sportsrus5 said:

Can you buy alcohol package for certain days?

Must be purchased for the entire cruise.

[Ep010835]

8 hours ago, paul929207 said:

You can carry on as much soda as you want.

 

Yes. 

[jaxflygirl88]

On 1/26/2019 at 5:15 PM, RMMariner said:

 

I agree. Very similar lines. Celebrity seems to have a little more going on at night, but the food, entertainment and atmosphere are almost identical. 

 

We have enjoyed both lines, but cruise with Princess more because the itineraries out of Vancouver work for us best.

Oh boy..well too late now,  We are booked!  They assigned us C326 today.  Looks like a good room.  I wanted something less "crazy ", less kids, no waterslides, etc  like R/C but not as "sleepy" as I'm told HAL is.  It seemed like a happy medium and I had heard great things about Princess.  The entertainment on Celebrity Eclipse 8 years ago was pretty much non existent and I really didn't like the waste of space of the Lawn Club.  The crew was not very friendly at all either.  I will say the food was great though. ALso didn't like sailing from MIA.  It's quite hectic and difficult to get to.  We live in JAX, FL so Port Canaveral is awesome but only offers Carnival, R/C and NCL (oh and Disney).  All of those would have thousands of kids spring break week...Been there done that!  Have never been on Carnival but after all the bad reviews and being used to R/C, we won't even try it.   Thanks for all the advice.  I am hoping for the best!  Hey, any week at sea beats a week at work!!  🙂

[jaxflygirl88]

I plan on a small roller cooler (cloth, not heavy) to check with baggage with porters with 12 bottles of water for us and 12 plastic bottles of diet coke (not 2 liter!)  the 12oz size ones.  This should be fine for us and hubby can buy 3-6 beers a day and I think will be cheaper than the beverage pkg. since he really doesn't drink cocktails and only has 3-4 beers a day.  If I need a soda on the private island I'll just purchase.  I usually drink Iced tea with dinner, so I don't think the soda pkg will even be a good deal for me.  2 days we're off at ports  most of the day anyway.   Staying on ship in Falmouth Jamaica .    Thanks for the advice. 

[WisCruiser2]

As with any cruise you can do as much or as little as you wish. We liked the entertainment on our Regal cruise 3 weeks ago, there were several different music acts around the ship as well as production shows. Born to Dance was fabulous and hopefully the Beatlemaniacs will also still be there.

If you haven"t read MaryBethV's recent review, she included photos of the daily Patter, listing all the activities.

If you're going during a spring break week there will be kids but probably not as many as RC. 

[satxdiver]

Instead of bringing 12 bottles of water aboard consider buying the 12 (500 ml) bottle package for $6.90 delivered to your cabin.  It has to be purchased several days  before boarding the ship.  It is a great deal.  That way you can haul more soda pop aboard.   The 5 for the price of 4 beer is a great savings.  Thankfully Princess does not require every adult in the cabin to buy the same package.

 

If you do not an army of kids aboard, do not go on Carnival.  We were on one cruise the first week of May when all the kiddies should have been in school but there were over 600 aboard a Carnival ship.  Wall to wall rugrats but I must say they seemed to be behaving and other than traveling in packs presented no problems. 

[trbarton]

Here’s another thing about the buckets of beers. I was on a cruise in the theatre & I was going to order a beer when the server suggested the bucket of beers where every night I was there we both remembered how many I had so I got the benefit of the price & not having to take them all at once. 

 

Tom😎

[Cruisingawayfromthesnow!]

Does the PBP still work in the specialty restaurants?

[polmcs]

1 hour ago, Cruisingawayfromthesnow! said:

Does the PBP still work in the specialty restaurants?

 

Yes it does. That said, as you still have to order wines by the glass, I find that it’s better to run along to Vines and pick up a pre dinner glass of wine as they tend to have a much wider/better selection than the MDR/speciality restaurants and have it in a “sippy cup to go” and take it with you and then dash back out for a refill between courses.

[reedprincess]

11 minutes ago, polmcs said:

 

Yes it does. That said, as you still have to order wines by the glass, I find that it’s better to run along to Vines and pick up a pre dinner glass of wine as they tend to have a much wider/better selection than the MDR/speciality restaurants and have it in a “sippy cup to go” and take it with you and then dash back out for a refill between courses.

That dash is more like a long run or marathon when you're in Share in 16 aft and Vines is 5 midship!! Lol.. not always practical - bit works well enough for the first glass.